The present invention relates to a slide type foldable seat in which a seat is placed so that a position thereof can be moved in a longitudinal direction of a vehicle body by a slide rail, and is placed so that the seat can be kicked up from a rear portion side to an upper side in a folded state of a seat back.
In general, a seat for a motor vehicle is constructed by assembling a seat back in a seat cushion in a foldable manner by a reclining mechanism. Further, the seat is placed on a vehicle body floor by a slide rail assembled by an upper rail mounted to a lower portion side of the seat cushion and a lower rail slidably supporting the upper rail, so as to move the position of the seat in the longitudinal direction within the vehicle.
In the seat for the motor vehicle, in particular, in a rear seat mounted in a station wagon or the like, in order to secure a receiving space for loads and the like, it is planned that the seat is structured such as to be capable of being kicked up from the rear portion side to the upper side in the folded state of the seat back.
In order to structure the seat such as to be capable of being kicked up, a striker lock may be assembled so as to be capable of being opened in accordance with a lever operation of a passenger, by axially supporting and pivoting a front end side of the lower rail to a stand leg portion standing up from the vehicle body floor by a supporting shaft and locking and mounting a rear end side of the lower rail to a striker standing up from the vehicle body floor by the striker lock arranged in a lower portion close to a rear end of the rail.
However, in the case that the seat is structured such as to be capable of being kicked up only by unlocking the striker lock, since a head rest generally protrudes forward from the seat cushion in the folded state of the seat back, it is assumed that the head rest is brought into contact with a back portion of a front side seat or with a floor surface of the vehicle body floor so as to be stopped in the middle of kicking up.
In order to avoid the matter, the seat should be kicked up by unlocking the striker lock after sliding the seat to a predetermined position in a rear side within the vehicle and moving so that the head rest is positioned in the rear side within the vehicle rather than a front end side of the lower rail axially supported and pivoted to the leg portion standing up from the vehicle body floor in the folded state of the seat back.
However, when the structure is made such that the seat can be kicked up only by unlocking the striker lock in the manner mentioned above, a step of at first sliding the seat to the predetermined position in the rear side within the vehicle and thereafter unlocking the striker lock so as to kick up the seat is not always executed.
A slide lock is provided in the slide rail mentioned above. The slide lock is assembled by an operation lever provided in a front side lower portion of the seat cushion, and lock plates positioned in respective side portions of the upper rail.
The lock plate is positioned along a longitudinal direction of the upper rail, is axially supported in a portion close to a front end by a supporting shaft inserted and fixed to a plate surface of the upper rail, and is mounted so as to be always energized upward by a spring around the supporting shaft corresponding to a supporting point in a portion close to a rear end. A retainer piece in which a plurality of receiving holes are open to the plate surface is provided in the lock plate so as to protrude to a side portion from a lower end edge. A plurality of protruding teeth engaging with the receiving holes of the retainer piece are provided in the lower rail by notching a lower end line of an inward bend flange in a concavo-convex shape toward a longitudinal direction.
Since a plurality of protruding teeth and the receiving holes of the retainer piece are engaged with each other, the slide lock locks the upper rail by the lower rail so as not to slide, and the structure is made such that the rear end side of the lock plate swings downward around the supporting shaft corresponding to the supporting point against the spring so as to unlock, when pulling up the operation lever.
Since the slide lock is provided, it is assumed that the seat in the folded state slides down together with the kicking-up in the case that the passenger grips by mistake the operation lever of the slide lock by a hand and unlocks the slide lock at a time of kicking up the seat.
An object of the present invention is to provide a slide type foldable seat structured such that the seat can be securely kicked up from a rear portion side to an upper side in a folded state of a seat back without generating a matter that a head rest is brought into contact with a back portion of a front side seat or with a floor surface of a vehicle body floor so as to be stopped in the middle of kicking up, by mechanically inducing a step of at first sliding the seat to a predetermined position in a rear side within the vehicle and thereafter unlocking a striker lock.
Further, an object of the present invention is to provide a slide type foldable seat structured such that a slide lock can be kept in a locked state in which an unlocking operation can not be executed even when a passenger grips by mistake an operation lever of a slide lock, and a seat in a folded state can be kicked up with keeping a slide position in a rear side within the vehicle.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a slide type foldable seat comprising:
a slide rail assembled by an upper rail mounted to a lower portion side of a seat cushion and a lower rail slidably supporting the upper rail;
a slide lock in which a front end side of the lower rail is axially supported and pivoted to a stand leg portion standing up from a vehicle body floor around a supporting shaft, thereafter a rear end side is locked and mounted to a striker standing up from the vehicle body floor by a striker lock provided in a lower portion close to a rear end of the rail, and the upper rail is locked to the lower rail;
an operation lever unlocking the slide lock;
an operation lever placed so as to move a position of the seat in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle body by the slide rail, and unlocking the striker lock; and
the supporting shaft axially supporting and pivoting the front end side of the lower rail;
the seat being placed so as to be kicked up from a rear portion side in a folded state of the seat back to an upper side,
wherein a switching mechanism making it impossible to unlock the striker lock by the operation lever when the seat is kept in a seated position, and making it possible to unlock he striker lock by the operation lever when the seat is moved to a predetermined rear position is assembled in the operation lever.
In the case that the switching mechanism is provided, since the switching mechanism can not be switched to a mechanism operable by the lever operation when the seat is only folded at the seated position in the front side within the vehicle, the striker lock is not unlocked even when the passenger operates the switching mechanism by means of lever, so that it is impossible to kick up a whole of the seat.
On the contrary, when sliding the seat to a predetermined position in the rear side within the vehicle, the switching mechanism is switched to the mechanism operable by the lever operation. Accordingly, since the passenger operates the switching mechanism by means of lever, whereby the striker lock is unlocked, it is possible to kick up the whole of the seat from the rear end side to the upper side. Therefore, it is possible to avoid the matter that the head rest is brought into contact with the back portion of the front side seat or brought into contact with the floor surface of the vehicle body floor so as to be stopped in the middle of the kicking-up.
The switching mechanism is structured such that a placing plate corresponding to a base mounted and fixed to a lower portion side of a seat cushion is provided, a first rotary plate corresponding to an operation lever and a second rotary plate opposing to the first rotary plate are axially supported by a first supporting shaft fixed to a plate surface of the placing plate in a standing manner, a third rotary plate opposing to the second rotary plate and a fourth rotary plate opposing to the third rotary plate are axially supported by a second supporting shaft fixed to a plate surface of the second rotary plate in a standing manner at a position apart from the first supporting shaft, a tension coil spring is arranged between the fourth rotary plate and the third rotary plate, return coil springs are arranged between the placing plate and the first rotary plate and between the second rotary plate and the fourth rotary plate respectively, a substantially L-shaped guide hole obtained by connecting a first circular arc portion around the first supporting shaft to a second circular arc portion around the second supporting shaft is provided in the first rotary plate, a circular arc-shaped guide hole toward a middle point of the guide hole from a hole end aligning with a hole end of the second circular arc portion is provided in the second rotary plate, a slide pin toward the second and first rotary plates is provided in a protruding manner in the third rotary plate, the guide pin is arranged so as to be inserted to a hole interior middle point within the substantially L-shaped guide hole provided in the first rotary plate from a hole interior portion of the circular arc-shaped guide hole provided in the second rotary plate, a first traction wire is connected to a portion between the first rotary plate and the striker lock, and a second traction wire is connected to a portion between the fourth rotary plate and the upper rail.
In accordance with the switching mechanism, the structure is made such that when the second traction wire is pulled by the upper rail in accordance with a rear movement of the seat, the fourth rotary plate and the third rotary plate swing and rotate around the second supporting shaft, the slide pin protruding from the third rotary plate moves to the hole end of the second circular arc portion from the middle point of the substantially L-shaped guide hole, and the first traction wire is switched so as to be capable of being pulled by the first rotary plate by pressing the slide pin by means of the second circular arc portion and the circular arc-shaped guide hole, on the contrary, when the seat is kept at the seated position, the second traction wire is not pulled, so that the guide hole receives the slide pin by the second circular arc portion around the first supporting shaft from the middle point so as to keep the first traction wire in a state in which it can not be pulled by the first rotary plate, even by pulling the first rotary plate.
In the switching mechanism, the first traction wire is provided so as to independently axially support and pivot a hook-shaped latch engaging with and disengaging from the striker, and a cam-shaped ratchet locking the latch engaging with the striker by the supporting shaft built on top of a side plate provided with a downward U-shaped receiving port receiving the striker, energizing the latch by spring in a disengaging direction from the striker, and be connected to the ratchet of the striker lock pulling the ratchet by spring in an engaging direction with the latch.
The second traction wire is provided so as to mount a protruding plate provided with a long hole directing to the slide direction of the upper rail on a plate surface in a side portion of the upper rail, attach a slide plate protruding a supporting pin slidably engaging with the long hole of the protruding plate to the protruding plate by the supporting pin, and be connected to a slide plate of a wire pulling mechanism provided with a stopper piece stood up from the lower plate and brought into contact with the supporting pin of the slide plate immediately before a backward movement dead point of the seat.
A flat belt strap is provided in the switching mechanism by being drawn from the first rotary plate corresponding to the operation lever. This strap 11 is constituted by a round bar member made of metal, is provided so as to be inserted to a strap holder mounted and fixed to the placing plate of the switching mechanism and draw out the grip portion to the external side.
The strap holder is constituted by a supporting frame which has a substantially quadrilateral plan shape and is bent in an L shape in a side view, and a guide shaft which is in parallel to a lower horizontal shaft portion of the supporting frame at a distance of an insertion gap for the strap therefrom, and is arranged over and fixed to a pulling side of the strap on middle portions of side shaft portions inclined to right and left oblique downward sides, and is provided by welding and fixing the supporting frame to the placing plate of the switching mechanism.
In the strap holder, since the strap can be provided so as to be suspended by the supporting frame from the placing plate of the switching mechanism, the strap does not form an obstacle even when the strap is positioned around feet of a rear passenger, and it is possible to prevent the strap from winding around a peripheral mechanism, so that the strap can be provided with a good usability.
In connection with the pulling operation of the strap, since the supporting frame is positioned on the same plane as that of the first rotary plate of the switching mechanism, and the guide shaft is positioned on an extension line of the first rotary plate, it is possible to linearly apply the pulling force to the first rotary plate even when pulling the strap from the strap holder to the upper side, so that it is possible to stably interlock the switching mechanism by the first rotary plate.
In addition to the structure mentioned above, a stopper pin which prevents the grip portion from being shifted from the insertion gap between the lower horizontal shaft portion of the supporting frame and the guide shaft to the inner side is provided in the strap by being sewn within a loop base portion of the grip portion. With the help of the stopper pin, since the loop-shaped grip portion is not shifted to the inner side from the insertion gap, the strap can be provided so as to be easily operated.
The slide type foldable seat is structured so as to be automatically kicked up by providing with a kick-up spring on an axis of the supporting shaft inserted into the lower rail of the slide rail and the stand leg portion. Further, a speed reduction damper restricting a kick-up speed of a whole of the seat is provided so as to gradually reduce a speed of the whole of the instantaneously jumping up seat from the middle of the kicking up.
Together with the kick-up spring and the speed reduction damper, an elastic pad restricting a kick-up attitude of the whole of the seat is provided so as to be brought into contact with the stand leg portion. Spacer pads adjusting the kick-up attitude of the whole of the seat are provided in the stand leg portions in both sides.
The slide lock of the slide rail is positioned along the longitudinal direction in each of the side portions of the upper rail, and is constituted by a lock plate provided so as to axially support a portion close to a front end by the supporting shaft inserted and fixed to the plate surface of the upper rail, always energize a portion close to a rear end upward by a spring and protrude the retainer piece having a plurality of receiving holes opened on the plate surface from a lower end edge to a side portion, a plurality of protruding teeth provided by notching a lower end line of the lower rail in a concavo-convex shape toward a longitudinal direction, and an operation lever mounted to a front end side of the lock plate and provided in a lower portion in a front side of the seat cushion. Since a plurality of protruding teeth and the receiving holes of the retainer piece are engaged with each other, the slide lock locks the upper rail by the lower rail so as not to slide, and the slide lock is provided so that the rear end side of the lock plate swings downward around the supporting shaft corresponding to the supporting point against the spring so as to unlock, when pulling up the operation lever.
A stopper mechanism locking the lock plate so as not to be unlocked when the striker lock is operated so as to be unlocked, is assembled in the slide lock. The stopper mechanism is structured by axially supporting and pivoting a stopper piece capable of being brought into contact with the protruding piece provided in the lock plate to the side portion of the lower rail by the supporting shaft, and connecting the stopper piece to the ratchet of the striker lock by a connection rod.
Since the stopper mechanism is provided, even when the passenger grips by mistake the operation lever of the slide lock by a hand, it is possible to keep the slide lock in a locking state in which the slide lock can not be unlocked, and it is possible to kick up the seat in the folded state with keeping the slide position at the rear side within the vehicle.
In this slide type foldable seat, since the operation lever of the striker lock and the strap are provided in the lower portion in the rear side of the seat cushion in place that the operation lever of the slide lock is provided in the lower portion in the front side of the seat cushion, the sitting passenger can adjust the longitudinal position of the seat in a normal sitting attitude, and can execute the kick-up operation of the seat by positioning in the rear side of the seat to be kicked up.
The other features than those described above will be apparent in an embodiment of the present invention described later.